New Series – Coming Soon!

I am extremely excited to announce a new series coming to Smockity Frocks and beyond!

I am collaborating with three wonderful bloggers to bring you our experiences in large family living. Each Thursday we will all tackle the same subject from our individual points of view. By checking all four blogs, our hope is you will come away with a balanced impression of “How Moms of Many Manage”.

As opposed to, say, getting all your ideas about large families from one fairly wacky lady who sometimes talks to herself and then types it all out for the world wide internet to read. Ahem.

Our first topic will be all about scheduling and will be posted next Thursday, March 11. The following Thursday, we will all be live blogging throughout the day with updates on how we are (or aren’t) sticking to our schedules. I expect to be updating with a lot of, “History lesson derailed because baby dunked new roll of toilet paper into toilet. Again.”

Don’t you judge me. I’m just keepin’ it real. It’s all for you. My peeps.

Now, meet my team!

KimC is a Christian, a wife, big sister to 13 sibs, and the slightly-crunchy homeschooling mom of 10 children: 9 on the outside and 1 on the inside. She lives with her very large family in a very small house in south Texas and finds peace in chocolate and blogging at Life in a Shoe: the methods and madness of one family of 12. Her family shares their little house on the hill with dogs, gerbils, snakes, and tarantulas, and a 10 year old cat named Tim. The chickens stay outside. Usually.

Kimberly, from Raising Olives, is a second generation homeschooling mom to her soon-to-be 10 children. She is married to an amazingly patient husband, who also happens to be a magnificent father. Their family’s primary goal is to glorify God and to raise children who will do the same. For that reason they attempt to examine every decision that they make in the light of God’s word. Many of their decisions may seem strange to the world and they’re good with that.

The DeputyHeadmistress is shy and blogs behind a pseudonym which she intended to be amusing and somewhat self-depreciatory. She and the Headmaster locked eyes in a high school Sunday School class in 1979 when she was 17, and they have been merrily married since 1982, in spite of the fact that at 17 the DHM nearly got the HM beaten up by her other boyfriend, and at 20 she nearly got him arrested by a cop from church. Happily God helped her grow up, and He is gracious and forgiving, and so is the Headmaster. They have seven wonderful Progeny both by birth and adoption, two handsome sons-in-law, one adorable grandson, and two precious unofficial foster sons, ages 5 and 3, who live with them about half the time. They have been homeschooling since 1988. The DHM, and occasionally some of the Progeny, blog regularly about politics, family life, living in the country, books, music, cabbages, kings, and living the countercultural Christian life at The Common Room.

You’ll definitely want to pop over to their blogs to see all the wisdom/crafts/stories/recipes/advice/etc. they have to offer. But be sure to come back here, because I’m still your favorite, right? Right?! Hello? Tap, tap. This thing on?

Here’s my topic suggestion for you four to tackle. Give us moms of few children some advice. I just have one child (but hope to have more…gimme some time, k?)

What can moms like me do during these early years to best manage our households, be good stewards of our time, and train up our eldest children in ways that will be beneficial for the entire family when we have more children than parents, and then more children than we have arms (and beyond?). In other words, what did you do then, or what do you WISH you would have done then to lay down a good foundation for supporting a home with many children?